Daniel in Babylon: The Man Against Whom No Fault Was Found

Who Daniel Was, and When

Daniel is a prophet of the exile, and the dossier places him as active 606 BC to 534 BC (Ussher, Annals of the World, 1650). His name carries across seventy-two verses in four books: sixty-seven in Daniel, three in Ezekiel, and one each in Matthew and Mark. The first mention of him in the canon's order falls at Ezekiel 14:14. The last is in Mark. His name in Hebrew is written דָּנִיֵּאל or דָּנִאֵל.

Among the Children of Judah

The book opens with him as one of four: "Now among these were of the children of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The prince of the eunuchs gave names to them: to Daniel he gave the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego" (Daniel 1:6-7). A foreign court renamed him, and the name stuck; it is used of him later by the king himself.

Then comes the decision that shapes everything after: "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself" (Daniel 1:8). The text is careful about who moved first: "Now God made Daniel find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs" (Daniel 1:9). The official was not persuaded, only afraid: "I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? Then you would endanger my head with the king" (Daniel 1:10-11). Further notes about his learning, his standing before the king, and how long he continued are given at Daniel 1:17, 1:19 and 1:21.

The Decree Against the Wise Men

"So the decree went out, and the wise men were to be slain. They sought Daniel and his companions to be slain" (Daniel 2:13). What follows is a portrait of nerve under a death sentence: "Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He answered Arioch the king's captain, 'Why is the decree so urgent from the king?'" (Daniel 2:14-15). He asked the king for time (Daniel 2:16), then "went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions" (Daniel 2:17). He did not face it alone, and he did not face it by cleverness.

Afterward he went back to Arioch with a plea for the men who had been under the same sentence: "Don't destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation" (Daniel 2:24). Arioch brought him in "in haste" and announced him as "a man of the children of the captivity of Judah" (Daniel 2:25). Before the king, Daniel took nothing for himself: "The secret which the king has demanded can't be shown to the king by wise men, enchanters, magicians, or soothsayers" (Daniel 2:27).

Raised Over the Province of Babylon

"Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an offering and sweet odors to him" (Daniel 2:46). The verse is startling, and the passage records no protest from Daniel. The king's own confession follows: "Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets" (Daniel 2:47). Daniel was made ruler "over the whole province of Babylon" and chief governor over all its wise men, and his first act with that power was to ask for his friends: "Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel was in the king's gate" (Daniel 2:48-49).

Under Darius, and Out of the Lions' Power

Years later he is one of three presidents, "distinguished above the presidents and the local governors, because an excellent spirit was in him" (Daniel 6:3). His rivals searched him and came up empty: "they could find no occasion or fault, because he was faithful. There wasn't any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, 'We won't find any occasion against this Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God'" (Daniel 6:4-5). His prayer, the accusation, the sealed den and the morning after are told at Daniel 6:10-11, 6:13-14, 6:16-17, 6:20-21 and 6:23-24. The king's decree names the outcome: "He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." And then the quiet summary: "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian" (Daniel 6:27-28).

Interpreter and Visionary

He is called in before two more kings (Daniel 4:8-9, 4:18-19; Daniel 5:12-13, 5:17, 5:29). The second half of the book turns him from interpreter into receiver: visions, distress of spirit and sickness are recorded at Daniel 7:1-2, 7:15, 7:28, 8:1, 8:15, 8:27, 9:2, 9:22, 10:1-2, 10:7, 10:11-12, 12:4-5 and 12:9. Outside his own book his name stands in Ezekiel 14:14, 14:20 and 28:3.

Failures

The dossier records none. That is worth saying plainly rather than inventing one: the accusers of Daniel 6:4 hunted for an error and found none, and the passages here preserve no sin of his. What the text does leave uncomfortable is Daniel 2:46, where a king worships him and the verse reports no refusal.

What We Do Not Know

Scripture does not name his parents. No children are named. No tribe or people is given to him, though Daniel 1:6 places him among the children of Judah and Daniel 2:25 calls him one of the captivity of Judah.

The Line to Christ

The New Testament names him twice, in the Gospel of Matthew at Matthew 24:15 and in the Gospel of Mark at Mark 13:14. The dossier supplies no text for either verse, so nothing may be built on them beyond this: the exile who would not defile himself is still being cited by name in the Gospels, centuries after Cyrus the Persian.